How Early Girl Eatery achieved profitability, overcame operational inefficiencies, and expanded to four locations with Fourth’s Restaurant Operations Suite.
“With the Restaurant Operations Suite, I’m proud to say that we went from the brink of bankruptcy to four successful restaurants.”
– Jesson Gill, Founder of Early Girl Eatery
Early Girl Eatery, a Southern farm-to-table concept in Asheville, NC, was on the brink of bankruptcy due to inefficiencies across its operations. Manual processes for scheduling, onboarding, payroll, and retention burdened the management team, leaving them with little time to focus on growing the business and improving the guest experience. Juggling multiple vendors that didn’t specialize in restaurants only added to the strain. Early Girl needed an all-in-one solution from a partner who truly understands the restaurant industry
To address these challenges, new owner Jesson Gill, a former Raising Cane’s franchisee, turned to HotSchedules his trusted solution for workforce management. HotSchedules helped create schedules that matched demand, kept labor costs in check, and provided more scheduling flexibility. This not only improved retention but also reduced the time managers spent on scheduling.
“HotSchedules is a no brainer because at its core it’s good for the business and good for employees. It makes forecasting and scheduling a super easy.”
– Jesson Gill, Founder of Early Girl Eatery
Eager for more efficiency, Early Girl implemented Fourth’s Payroll solutions to offload the complexities of payroll processing, compliance, and benefits administration. This simplified HR support, reduced costs, and improved employee retention. Integrating Fourth’s PEO gave Early Girl access to larger company benefits and reduced compliance risks, all while saving on overhead.
“I am not a payroll specialist of any sort or fashion… I’m operations. I’ve taken over the payroll within Early Girl Eatery. I’ve been impressed with the Fourth side of it and how it all syncs together.
– David Gillespie, District Supervisor of Early Girl Eatery
To further enhance retention in a competitive labor market, Early Girl adopted Fourth’s earned wage access solution. This helped reduce shift callouts and eliminated the need for out-of-pocket loans to employees. On-demand pay also empowered employees by giving them access to earned wages before payday, reducing financial stress and improving shift-fill rates without impacting payroll.
Adopting Fourth’s Restaurant Operations Suite turned Early Girl’s financial struggles into a path to profitability. The restaurant expanded to four locations, significantly reduced administrative burdens, and simplified vendor management. By leveraging Fourth’s integrated solutions, Early Girl gained the operational efficiency and bandwidth of a much larger business. With less time spent managing scheduling, payroll, compliance, and turnover, management can now focus on what matters most—creating great experiences for employees and guests alike.
Early Girl is an independent restaurant concept with 4 locations in North Carolina specializing in organic, farm–to–table Southern comfort food classics. They are part of the fabric of their community and their employees are the indispensable ingredient to the Early Girl experience.
Give us a call today +1 (877) 539-5156, or click the button below.
Save time, reduce costs, and increase profitability with Fourth’s intelligent solutions.